The Fifth Star
by Dem0nFl0wer
Summary: 21. After the war a discovery is made in space, and it centers around Duo. The braided boy must leave his friends to go to a completely different world, where he will uncover secrets about himself even he did not know. (incomplete)
1. 1

  
The Fifth Star  
Part One  
  
_ Preventers Headquarters, Outer Space, January AC 196_  
Duo would be back in fifteen minutes.  
  
Quick fingers ran over a keyboard, deftly erasing information from the computer mainframe. Prussian blue eyes only half focused on the information running over the screen; but then again, Heero Yuy could do this kind of thing in his sleep.  
  
"Heero. Everything coming along well, I trust?"  
  
The boy didn't need to turn towards the door to know whose voice that was. "J. Everything's going as expected."  
  
"No less from my protégé."  
  
"Former protégé." Heero inwardly groaned, if only shortly, at the annoyance the good doctor presented. He wondered how the five scientists that had built the gundams made it out of the war alive. He also wondered if any one would prosecute him if he did the job the war couldn't. The scientists were, after all, war liabilities... but that thought just bought him back to the task at hand. "In roughly five minutes I'll have erased all data on the gundam mobile suits. No one will be able to build one again, at least not from your designs."  
  
J snorted indignantly, more so than he usually would given the fact that he realized Heero took pleasure in taunting him. "What a waste."  
  
"I can't say I'm not impressed, though. How G developed such an advanced stealth system and a thermal weapon that can actually function underwater is beyond me."  
  
"You know, G's not the only genius around." J huffed away, no doubt insulted by the unsaid dismissal.   
  
Heero almost smiled, again left alone to his own devices. But he couldn't help but sneak a glance at the clock in the corner of the computer screen.   
  
Ten more minutes.  
  
Heero leaned back in the wooden chair, letting the computer take care of the last details. He wondered how he would approach Duo. Wondered how the cobalt eyed boy would receive his proposal. During the first war... well, then it had been stress relief, as Duo had called it, and Heero had never protested. Then between Treize and Mariemeia's respective plays for power it had been casual sex, whenever they were in the same area. The significance wasn't lost on Heero that Duo had been the only person he trusted enough to give his address to. He had explained it before by saying some one would need it, in case he was needed again, but... he realized he held Duo in higher regard than any one else he had encountered during the war.  
  
Five minutes until Duo would arrive at headquarters.  
  
Heero stood up from the computer, finished now, and made his way to the port. Duo and Quatre should be back from destroying the gundams soon. He ran through multiple possible tactics in his head, analyzing to see which one had the greatest chance of actually convincing Duo to move in with him.  
  
Flattering. _Duo. I respect your cheerful joie de vivre in most situations and your determination, focus, and intelligence on the battlefield. I'd like to be able to enjoy that personality all the time._  
  
Financial. _At the economy's current rate of inflation rent on a single bedroom studio apartment will become impossible to pay. It might be easier if we were paying it together._  
  
Strategic._ If a war breaks out, it will be easier for the Preventers to locate us if some of us were living together._  
  
Boyishly honest and endearingly insecure. _I think that you know that I think you're cute, and, well, I was wondering if you might want to live with me for awhile._  
  
Heero realized Duo might not buy the last one, though, especially since he wouldn't be able to summon the obligatory pout and wide eyes that could make it work. It would probably be best if he was curt... just ask and see what happened from there.  
  
"Heero, man, you okay?" Duo blinked huge eyes at his peer, slightly disturbed as Heero looked back at him with a confused expression. The stoic pilot had been standing in the entrance ever since he and Quatre had gotten out of their car, looking completely dazed.  
  
"Is there something we can do for you?"  
  
Heero looked over at Quatre, reading the worried expression there, before turning back to stare at Duo. An awkward silence passed between the three, and Heero could swear he heard crickets in the background. But then, it was the middle of the day.  
  
"No." He said, almost hastily, before turning around to leave the room. "There's nothing."  
  
Duo scratched his head as Heero left. "Weird guy."  
  
Quatre only nodded in agreement.  
  
Just a few yards down the hall Heero had stopped to lean against a wall, evaluating the situation to see where he had gone wrong. Why hadn't he asked? True, Duo had caught him off guard, but that was no reason for mission failure. Could he be... nervous? Hearing approaching footsteps from the port, he decided to drop the issue for now, running back to his room for further assessment.   
  
Duo stared down the empty corridor before turning to Quatre. "Why did Heero just run away from us?"  
  
Quatre shrugged. "He's your boyfriend."  
  
* * *  
  
Trowa Barton stared at the screen, awe written in his eyes. Space was beautiful, but easily taken for granted in their situation. Now, though, images of space surrounded him in the Preventer's lab, displaying gorgeous star clusters and black holes.  
  
"What's that?" He pointed something out to Wufei, a small light on the screen that looked akin to an explosion. His training had left him bereft in areas like astrology, but Wufei, as a scholar, might be able to tell him.  
  
Wufei looked over at the almost non-discernable dot, growing smaller by the minute. He motioned at a nearby technician, a man who was obviously annoyed by their presence. "Could you zoom in on that blue light?"  
  
Trowa watched as the light grew bigger, than faded altogether. "It's gone."  
  
"Odd." By now the technician had joined them, intrigued at the strange object. "I've never seen anything like that before."  
  
The man pressed some buttons on the control panel, and the two teenagers were treated to the sight of the explosion in reverse, when they felt two hands on their shoulders.  
  
"I think you boys should go now, we have research to do. This is quite an exciting find."  
  
Wufei nodded up at the affable scientist, even while walking with Trowa to the exit. They turned towards each other as they were all but pushed through the door.   
  
"So," Trowa said, "I take it you don't know."  
  
* * *  
  
Heero pretended to be reading the latest news reports on his computer even as he tracked Duo's movements on the other side of their room. The other boy was packing. They'd have a celebratory dinner, then Duo would be gone, unless he asked him soon. Well, actually, it wasn't as if he would never see Duo ever again. He did know where the braided boy lived.  
  
"Duo?"  
  
Duo looked up from his suitcase, smiling in a distracted manner. "Yeah?"  
  
"I-"   
  
"Heero! Duo!" The door to the two's room popped open, an enthusiastic Quatre appearing on the other side. "You have to come and see this. It might be the find of the century."  
  
Quatre raced back out into the hallway, leaving the other two boys to scramble to catch up.  
  
"They're sending some one to pick it up now. It's amazing, really, we're all dying to know it's history."  
  
"Quat, wait up." Duo ran to the blond boy's side, wondering why he was being so hasty. "We don't even know what you're talking about."  
  
The three boys skidded around a corner, almost crashing into the automatic door there before it opened and they fell into a large room. Quatre stopped them, catching his breath even as he pointed at a large screen.  
  
"That. That is what I'm talking about."  
  
Heero walked through the crowd of people assembled at the room, staring up at the video playing in front of them. It was a five second shot, on loop, of outer space. He vaguely registered the excited voices around him, and Duo's presence to his right. He deduced that the object of all the turmoil was in the middle of the video shot: a very intricate, very black hulk of metal.  
  
"It's a mor... a mobile suit."  
  
Heero turned at Duo's voice, then looked back at the screen. Sure enough, he could see it, embedded it the center of the massive thing, a mechanical figure. He realized then that the rest of it resembled smooth wings, stretched out domes that were bigger even than the main body.  
  
"That's right, boy." Heero's head snapped around at G's voice. The old man was standing next to that scientist, the doctor working at the Preventer's space lookout station. Technically, the place was used to look out for any unusual political activity, but the technology they had was so advanced it wasn't unusual for independent scientists to ask to use the equipment as well. "We think it's from another world."  
  
Duo was staring at the shot with an intent look on his face, something Heero recognized from battles and school. "Do you?"  
  
"It's not from our world, that's for sure. You see, there are lots of star systems out there like ours, with planets that could very well contain civilization. When a star is born, its light travels at the... well, the speed of light, to reach us. The problem is that by the time that light reaches us, and we can actually see the star and planets on our equipment, the star and any civilizations rotating around it are long burnt out and dead. That's why the idea of meeting alien life forms is impossible. There's nothing that can travel faster than the speed of light, after all.  
  
"Of course, there's a theory that space travel on that scale is possible, except it would require the manipulation of tens of dimensions. Humans are only familiar with three: length, width, and height. The explosion that resulted in that mecha being here leads us to believe that the people who built it are indeed familiar with other multiple dimensions. It was unlike anything any one here has ever seen."  
  
Heero frowned, wondering if the scientists weren't making to many assumptions. But then again, this was their field, not his. "Do you believe this, Duo?"  
  
Duo turned at the question, an unreadable expression on his face, but didn't answer. "Is some one going to pick it up?"  
  
G nodded. "A troop of Preventers, along with Wufei and Sally, are on their way now."  
  
Duo nodded, then smiled, the lopsided grin Heero was so familiar with making its way onto his face. "I guess we can talk about it later, then. Right now, I'm starving. Is the big celebration still on?"  
  
"Sorry, Duo." Quatre smiled in apology. "The government's cancelled it in light of this commotion. The mess hall's still serving dinner, though. Care to join me?"  
  
"Yummy." Duo wrinkled his nose, an action belying his comment. "Heero, you coming?"  
  
Heero nodded, joining his two comrades as they made their way out of the room. He had just stepped out of the door when a hand clapped his shoulder, and he turned around to stare into J's mechanical eyes. "Yes?"  
  
"I'd just like to talk to you a moment."  
  
Heero turned back to address his friends, waiting for him a few feet away. "I'll catch up with you guys later."  
  
Duo nodded. "See you there."  
  
Heero stepped back into the room, waiting for whatever J had to say.  
  
"So, Heero, what do you make of the situation?"  
  
Heero shrugged. "It doesn't seem as though I have the expertise to make anything of it."  
  
"That may be, but if that is a mobile suit, and it is from another world, there's no guarantee that it will be empty. Just watch out, Heero, and if it's needed I still remember how to construct Wing Zero."  
  
Heero's eyes narrowed, just a little annoyed at his ex-mentor's instructions. "Duly noted. I trust G remembers how to build Deathscythe as well?"  
  
Heero stepped past J to the other scientist, effectively dismissing the older man. "The cloaking device, underwater thermal weapons, now those are truly strokes of genius."  
  
G turned toward the boy, smiling, even as J bristled. "Thank you, my boy, but I sorry to say I've never developed a thermal weapon that could work underwater. That's a feat of impossibility that probably won't be conquered for a few dozen years."  
  
Heero blinked. If G didn't do it, how did Duo manage to... shaking his head, he decided it wasn't that big a deal any way. The black market had always been ahead of conventional science, Duo could have gotten the technology any where. He left the scientists, then, leaving the room and following the path Duo and Quatre had taken.   
  
The Preventers headquarter was strangely beautiful, and even Heero Yuy wasn't going to take it for granted. The outer hallways weren't lined with metal, but with a special glass polymer, meters thick and stronger than most any material. It offered a beautiful view of space, and it was the path Heero took that day. Blue lights lit up the corridor, a counterpoint to the black and white of the world outside.  
  
Heero enjoyed the scene from the corner of his eyes, more focused on getting to his destination. He wasn't entirely prepared, then, when something that felt like an earthquake or a huge crash jolted him off of his feet. He landed with his back against the glass, his head hitting on the hard pane. Trying to shake off the distinct pain, he got to his feet and gripped onto the railing. The lights had gone out... everything was so black... his vision returned to him momentarily, however, when he happened to look out the glass walls.  
  
Black metal was stretched along the exterior of the ship, running the length of the hallway and effectively blocking the light of any stars. But it wasn't the metal that stunned Heero, but the sight directly in front of him, as he found himself staring into massive glowing green eyes. The alien mobile suit.   
  
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	2. 2

  
The Fifth Star  
Part Two   
The green went out, eyes fading back into space, and Heero was enveloped in blackness again. He pulled out his gun even as he ran down the hallway, following the photographic map in his mind. He could hear the glass cracking beside him even as he couldn't see it. His pace increased, rushing to get out of the corridor, knowing that if the glass broke he'd be sucked outwards into space.   
  
Heero dived as he neared the end of the corridor, rolling on hard metal as he pushed himself up onto his knees and slammed his palm unto a nearby button, a safety seal coming down in front of him. He could feel the thick metal slam down, separating him from the glass hallway, could feel the air being sucked up, then... everything was silent.   
  
His breath came in short pants as he collected himself, standing up to continue on to the base of commands at the core of headquarters. The back up lights had come on, and he found himself making his way down a narrow, barely lit hallway. A trail of small brown lights lined the right side of the floor, each roughly two feet apart, providing just enough light to make a path. Something moved a few yards away, right where the path curved into itself, and Heero hunched against the wall and shouted towards the form.  
  
"Preventer Hawk. State your name."  
  
"Heero? Heero, it's Duo." The other boy jogged up to him at a casual pace, stopping a few feet away. It was too dark for Heero to make out anything but his silhouette against the hallway walls. "Hey, man, what's with the gun?"  
  
Heero watched as Duo laid a hand on his own pistol, glancing around for any threats. "There's some one in the mobile suit."  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?"  
  
"The suit is not empty. It's active."  
  
If it were possible, Heero though he could feel Duo frown in the dark. "Heero, Wufei has commandeered the suit... barring the obvious setback, it should be in the hanger in by the time we get down there. There's no one inside."  
  
After Heero didn't respond Duo turned, going down the hallway and obviously expecting the other boy to follow him. Heero did so, padding along, still thinking about the suit. Its eyes had glowed, he hadn't imagined that, and they wouldn't have unless the thing were active... and if it were active it had to have a pilot inside, unless it was being controlled from a remote location. Given Duo's vehement statements that the suit was empty, it was probably the latter, and in that case still a threat.  
  
"Heero."  
  
Heero focused on irritated cobalt eyes, staring at him as their owner walked backwards through the dark.   
  
"You wanna put away the gun?"  
  
Heero nodded, slipping the gun back into the holster, but keeping on guard just in case. It didn't take that long before they were at the hanger, and Heero surveyed the commotion in the area. There must have been hundred people there, swarming around the massive black suit, and Quatre was in the middle of it. The blond boy sat in the open cockpit, J and some other scientist around him as they tried to figure out the machinery. Heero passed by the control station as he and Duo walked towards the activity, noting on a nearby computer screen that the hallway he had been walking through and had sealed off had been completely obliterated.  
  
"Yo!" Duo shouted up to get every one's attention, starting to climb the ladder to the platform that rested against the suit's chest. "I found Heero!"  
  
Heero followed, noting as he climbed up that the suit's cockpit actually held two seats, and Wufei was settled into the second one.  
  
"Talk about fast. You guys didn't waste any time." Duo lingered at the entrance of the cockpit, peering in with a manner that, to Heero, almost seemed uninterested. Heero, on the other hand, peered inside the suit, taking in the wiring and machinery the same way Quatre and Wufei were.   
  
"This is nothing like a gundam." Quatre was at a loss, running his hands over the unfamiliar controls near him, not knowing what to do.  
  
"Or any other kind of suit we know of." Wufei fiddled around with the panel in front of him, eliciting no reactions from the mecha. "I suppose we take it apart. It's obvious we can't work it."  
  
The former gundam pilots were ushered out of the suit as the scientists took over, instructing the mechanics as to what to do. They soon found themselves in front of Une, who thanked them for being there and basically told them to go away.  
  
"Well." Duo swung his arm around Heero's shoulders. "It looks like we're not wanted here. Hungry much?"  
  
* * *  
  
Heero found himself walking towards the hanger after the five pilots had eaten dinner together. The experience had been pleasant enough. It wasn't often that they were all together in one place, and the awkwardness the situation started with had soon dissipated into a kind of stiff comraderie. Heero had hoped, though, that he might have had the meal to talk to Duo alone. Then, when dinner was over, the American boy had been pulled away from Wufei, and Heero found himself walking towards the alien mobile suit.  
  
The thing was huge. Pitch black that glistened, just like space, with green detail work around the edges. It didn't seem to have any weapons, but Heero didn't know what its huge wings might be hiding, or really what the wings were there for. They formed the hulk of the machine, and were large enough to wrap the suit in a giant cocoon.  
  
Une was on top of the platform with a few of her subordinates, watching three of the gundam scientists working with a handful of mechanics. They had managed to remove the cockpit from the rest of the suit, though the two pieces were still connected with a huge web of thick wires, and Heero was slightly impressed to see that the main control panel was lit up.  
  
"... the interface is completely alien.... lucky we actually activated it..."  
  
Heero climbed up onto the platform, ignoring the minor bustle and walking towards the detached cockpit. It was easier to see now that it was out of its shell, and Heero inspected the controls. There was not a symbol any where, no labels or signs of languages, just buttons and wires. J had some kind of contraption hooked up to the wiring below the control panel, something like small flat computer.  
  
"Heero, glad you're here." J extracted a disc from the computer and tossed it at Heero, who caught the tiny cd in his palm. "See what you can do with this. We extracted it from the suit's databases, surprisingly easily, almost as if some one wanted us to find it."  
  
The Japanese boy looked at it, then at Une, who nodded at him. "I trust you to come to me with any information you find."  
  
Heero nodded before walking back to his and Duo's room. He couldn't help but feel a foreboding around the suit. It unnerved him that no one knew anything about it, and determined he would do some of his own investigations into the matter later on. Still, it was a threat, too much of a threat for them to keep the thing intact in his opinion, and he couldn't help but feel it wouldn't bring any good into any of their lives.  
  
Heero finally got to his room, not surprised to find Duo laying on his bed, though he was pleased with the turn of events. They were all scheduled to leave the base that day, but now with the new suit here, it seemed every one had silently agreed to stay on.  
  
"Hey." Duo watched as Heero headed to his laptop and slipped the disc in. The longhaired boy had changed out of the Preventers outfit he had been wearing. Now he was dressed in snug black pants and boots and a black button down shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows and top two buttons undone. His silver cross lay, as always, on his pale chest, looking almost sinful against his flesh. He was the perfect picture of masculinity, even with the braid of hair that trailed down to his waist. "Are you up to doing something tonight?"  
  
"Can't." Heero could almost kick himself. "I have an assignment."  
  
"My loss then." Duo gradually lifted himself up from the bed, moving in slow, lazy motions so that he was sitting at the end of the bed near Heero. Horizontal lines of strange symbols scrolled down the screen at an unreadable rate, though Heero seemed to have no problem keeping up with the text. "Codebreaking?"  
  
"J extracted it from the suit."  
  
"Ah. Well, good luck."  
  
Heero turned as Duo as the other boy started to stride towards the door. "You're not offering to help me?"  
  
Duo turned around and leaned against the doorway, throwing a smirk towards Heero. "I think you've got it down. Any way, I feel like playing. I'll probably take a shuttle down to the colony and find a club or something. I figure a lot of people will be celebrating tonight, what with Dekim Barton defeated and all."  
  
Heero had almost forgotten all about the last battle. It seemed like ages ago, now that the suit occupied his mind. "Will you be back tonight?"  
  
"Do you want me to be?" Duo's smirk grew a little wider.  
  
"I'll stop when you get back."  
  
Duo nodded before he disappeared, door swinging slightly before it banged shut.  
  
Heero, on the other hand, turned back to the sprawl of symbols in front of him. He looked for patterns, repetitions, treating what was obviously a complex language like it was any other code. He was making process, though, putting together enough pieces so that he might be able to translate it given a lot of work and some time. His laptop flashed 5 am when he felt a pair of familiar arms wrap themselves around his chest, and he fell into a tangle of limbs and silk.  
  
* * *  
  
Heero watched Duo's chest as his breath even out, looking at the way their glistening skin tones complemented each other. Bronze and cream, with scars that looked as though they interlaced despite the fact that they belonged to different people. Heero waited until Duo was asleep, knowing he would wake up in just an hour, then left to go back to his computer. When Duo did wake up, eight o'clock on the dot, he found Heero sitting in front of his laptop, still nude from their previous exploits.  
  
"Any progress?" The words were drawled out, Duo still not fully awake.  
  
"A little." Heero got up and laid back in the bed beside his sometimes lover as Duo propped himself up on his pillows. "Ready to face another day with the Preventers?"  
  
"Mmm."  
  
Heero felt his heart beating a little faster as he stopped Duo from reaching for his boxers, forcibly calming it. It all came out of his mouth in a rush, his earlier practice failing him. "I was wondering if we could move in together."  
  
"What?" Duo blinked before he jerked away, ambling towards his clothes. Heero sat up, waiting for the other boy to say something. Duo was silent for awhile, pulling on his boxers and pants from the night before. He fell back onto the bed then, after a moment, seated so he wasn't facing Heero. "So. You haven't broken the language?"  
  
So Duo was avoiding the issue. Still, it wasn't an outright no, and Duo would have to answer him some time. Even if that answer came in the form of Duo leaving without even addressing the issue. "No. I haven't."  
  
"Then we'll go to the hanger, and I'll tell you what it says."  
  
Heero blinked, confused, before grabbing for his own clothes. He really didn't know what to say after that enigmatic statement, except 'what are you talking about', and it was clear that he would find that out soon enough.  
  
He followed Duo out of the room and towards the hanger in silence. In ten minutes they reached the suit, and Duo climbed up the platform, saying a few words to Noin as he headed to the cockpit. Quatre and Trowa were in the seats, trying to take apart the wiring with the scientists' supervision.  
  
"Hey." Duo grinned at Quatre. "Mind if I have a try?"  
  
"Ummm... okay."  
  
Duo slid into the seat as Quatre vacated it, casually running his hands over the panel. After a sequence of movements every one was shocked when the whole gundam lit up. The eyes glowed, the green around the wings and suit body lighting up, and the suit actually lifted up its head. Then, the screen in front of the controls lit up, bathing Duo in a kind of blue light. The data Heero had been looking at flashed through the bottom of the screen, and he realized it was a software program. The screen blinked once, then cleared to show a video of some man dressed in white robes, his face shadowed. He was speaking, though no one could understand the language. Then the video was over, the man stuck in a still, with Duo sitting in his seat with a distant expression on his face.  
  
"Duo." Wufei, who had been standing near the scientists, had shock written all over his features. At this point, no one in the room, with the possible exception of Duo, knew what was going on. "How the hell did you do that?"  
  
Duo looked around, shifting in his seat, and every one questioned whether he would answer Wufei or not. The Duo turned his eyes to Une, who had ran over as soon as everything started happening, and kept eye contact with her. "This is my mobile suit."  
  
* * *  
  
"Why didn't you tell us?"   
  
Every one seated in one of the headquarter's lounge areas, really just a piece of space that was left over after all the offices were claimed, decorated with a dreary futon and coffee table. The alcove they were seated at looked over the hanger, and Heero watched as the scientists tried to fiddle with the now active suit. Every one had so many questions to ask the American boy that no one really knew where to start. And Duo was, at best, being evasive.  
  
"I knew what the suit was doing here. I knew what the video was going to say. So... I don't know... I just wanted one more night, I guess. So I waited to tell you guys."  
  
Wufei looked even more confused now than ever. "Duo, you're not making any sense."  
  
"Okay, fine." Duo sighed, blowing his bangs out of the way. Heero was trying to decipher his earlier words. One more night. "Haven't you guys ever wondered why I can summon a thermal weapon underwater? Why Deathscythe can just vanish into nothing? It's because I'm not exactly from this world. And that suit is mine, it was sent so I could go home. That's what the guy in the video was saying. I have to go back."  
  
Duo's explanation only created more questions, but no one said anything, and it was obvious Duo wasn't going to explain any further. Heero was focused entirely on Duo's last sentence. He had to go back.  
  
"So now what?" It was Une who asked the question, her face and voice stern.  
  
Duo shrugged. "So now I go back. If it's okay, though you really wouldn't be able to stop me. I'd appreciate it if you put my suit together."  
  
"So that's it?" Quatre was clearly upset, his features more expressive than any one else's in the room. "You're just going to leave us now? And what are we supposed to do, pretend you never existed?"  
  
"I have no choice in the matter."  
  
Une was clearly hesitant, looking down at the scientific find. But she knew as well as Duo that they wouldn't be able to use the suit without his help, and the now peaceful society didn't need the technology anyway. The only reason they had commandeered it in the first place was because of its potential threat. "We'll put your suit together for you, Duo. On the condition that you stay until at least nightfall to let your comrades say goodbye."  
  
Duo nodded, not minding the condition at all. Truth be told, he was somewhat loath to leave the galaxy he had called home for the last five years. People started filing out of the room then, the whole issue that had been the source of commotion for the last two days settled and done with. Quatre stopped in front of Duo, the eternal leader of their group.  
  
"You know," he said. "You can't get out of spending your last day here with the rest of us. I expect to see you in the mess hall for lunch in one hour."  
  
Duo smiled, his first one since he had made his confession. "I'll be looking forward to it."  
  
Heero waited until he was the only one left with the other boy, sitting on the coffee table so that they were face to face. "Why didn't you tell me?"  
  
"What? I already explained that."  
  
"No, I mean..." Heero broke his eye contact with the other boy, looking down to where his ankles were crossed on the floor. He remembered last night, how he hadn't spent Duo's last night here with the boy, how he had spent it instead pointlessly cracking some useless code. "Why didn't you tell me. Just me. I could have gone out with you then, last night. We could have..."  
  
"I wasn't completely sure I had to leave."  
  
"You were sure enough, at least, to do everything you did."  
  
Duo shrugged. "Then I didn't think about it."  
  
"About me, you mean. You didn't think about me." Heero raised his head up then, eyes slightly angry as he stared into Duo's befuddled orbs.  
  
"I didn't think I had to."  
  
Heero's fists tightened around the table as anger took a hold of him, along with a type of self-pity. He had been stupid to assume that Duo held him in the same regard that he held Duo. "My mistake."  
  
Then he pushed himself off of the table, walking briskly to the door even as Duo stared after him.   
  
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End file.
